Girl Scouts CEO Sylvia Acevedo responded to name-change announcement in an emailed statement to Business Insider.

“We are, and will remain, the first choice for girls and parents who want to provide their girls opportunities to build new skills, explore STEM and the outdoors, participate in community projects, and grow into happy, successful, civically engaged adults,” Acevedo said.

Girl Scouts has previously criticised the decision to start accepting girls into the Boy Scouts program.

In a letter to Boy Scouts of America last year, the Girl Scouts accused the organisation of seeking to “upend a paradigm that has served both boys and girls so well through the years by moving forward with a plan that would result in fundamentally undercutting Girl Scouts of the USA.”

The name of the programs’ parent organisation will remain the Boy Scouts of America.

Michael Surbaugh, chief scout executive of the Boy Scouts of America, said Wednesday that the name change was necessary because the organisation is entering a “new era.”

“It is important that all youth can see themselves in scouting in every way possible,” he said. “That is why it is important that the name for our scouting program for older youth remain consistent with the single-name approach used for the Cub Scouts.”